Transcript of Brown-Bush press conference
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;jsessionid=24IDIHEEMVZ3VQFIQMFCFGGAVCBQYIV0?xml=/news/2007/07/30/nbrown530.xml&page=2Last Updated: 1:50am BST 31/07/2007
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PRESIDENT BUSH:
Welcome. Thank you. It's good to -- good to have you here.
So everybody's wondering whether or not the Prime Minister and I were able to find common ground, to get along, to have a meaningful discussion, and the answer is absolutely.
You know, he -- he probably wasn't sure what to expect from me, and I -- I kind of had a sense that -- of the kind of person I'd be dealing with. I would describe Gordon Brown as a principled man who really wants to get something done. In other words, in my discussions with him last night, we spent about two hours over dinner and -- just alone. We -- we dismissed the -- the rest of the delegations to the bowling alley, I think. (Laughter.) And Josh Bolten said it's the Ryder Cup of bowling. I think the trophy was -- (laughter) --PRIME MINISTER BROWN: (I'm afraid ?)
PRESIDENT BUSH:
-- left for Great Britain, if I'm not mistaken. (Chuckles.)
But we had a really casual and good discussion, and we'd be glad to share -- I'll be glad to share some of the insights here and then -- but I -- the notion of America and Britain sharing values is very important, and that we have an obligation, it seems to me, to work for freedom and justice around the world.
And I found a person who shares that vision and who understands the call.
After all, we're writing the initial chapters of what I believe is a great ideological struggle between those of us who do believe in freedom and justice and human rights and human dignity, and cold- blooded killers who will kill innocent people to achieve their objectives.
Well, one of the great callings that we have here in the beginning of the 21st century is to protect our own people, and so we spent a fair amount of time making sure that our -- that our systems are properly aligned so as we can share information to protect our citizens from this kind of brutal group of people who really would like to see us driven from parts of the world so they can impose their ideology.
And I do congratulate the Prime Minister for his steady and quick response in the face of a significant threat to the homeland. You proved your worthiness as a leader, and I thank you for that.
We also recognize that if you're involved with an ideological struggle and -- you defeat that one ideology with a more hopeful ideology.
And that's why it's very important for us to defend and stand with these young democracies in Afghanistan and Iraq. I appreciate very much the British commitment in Afghanistan and Iraq. I appreciate the bravery of the soldiers.
Obviously, I mourn the loss of any life. I think it's very important for us to make it clear to those who are in harm's way that these missions will be driven not by local politics but by conditions on the ground, because success in Afghanistan and Iraq will be an integral part of defeating an enemy and helping people realize the great blessings of liberty as the alternative to an ideology of darkness that spreads its murder to achieve its objectives.
We talked about the tyranny of poverty, the tyranny of lack of education. And I appreciate the Prime Minister's strong commitment to press forward on working together, dealing with disease, whether it be Hiv\Aids or malaria.
He's got a strong commitment to helping people realise the blessings of education. I thank you very much for that vision.-SNIP-
Q&A FOLLOW UP QUESTIONS FROM REPORTERSQ Yes. Yes, Mr President.
PRESIDENT BUSH: How old are you? How old are you?
Q Thirty-eight.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Huh?
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: My goodness!
Q Thirty-eight.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Here you are at -- amazing country, Gordon. A guy -- guys under 40 years old asking me and you questions. It's -- it's a beautiful sight.
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: (Chuckles.)
Q Forty is the new 30, Mr President. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Beautiful sight.
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: Six of my cabinet are under 40.
PRESIDENT BUSH: Are they?
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: Yeah. (Chuckles.) (Laughter.)
Q Or 40 is the new 20.
PRESIDENT BUSH: You must be feeling damn old, then. (Chuckles.)PRIME MINISTER BROWN: Absolutely. (Laughter.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah, Jim.
Q Mr President, the Prime Minister has referred to terrorism as, quote, "a crime," and he's referred to it in part as a law enforcement issue.
So for you, I'm wondering, does that underscore any sort of philosophical difference when your 2004 campaign took issue with somewhat similar descriptions from John Kerry? And Mr Prime Minister, I've heard a lot about how your approach to the United States will be the same as that of your predecessor, but how will it differ?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Yeah. Look, people who kill innocent men, women and children to achieve political objectives are evil. That's what I think. I don't think there's any need to negotiate with them. I don't think there's any need to hope that they'll change. They -- they -- they are cold-blooded killers, and we better, you know, be clear-eyed when we're dealing with them.
And this Prime Minister right at the beginning of his office got a taste of what it means to be in a world with these people that would come and attempt to kill innocent civilians of his country, and he handled it well. Look, we're dealing with a variety of methodologies to deal with them. One is intelligence, one is law enforcement, and one is military.
We got to use all assets at disposal to find them and bring them to justice before they hurt our people again.
In the long run to the way to defeat these people is through a competing ideology, see, and what's interesting about this struggle -- and this is what I was paying very careful attention to when Gordon was speaking -- is that he understand it's an ideological struggle, and he does.
As he said to me, it's akin to the Cold War and it is, except the difference this time is we have an enemy using asymmetrical warfare to try to affect our vision to try to shake our will. They'll kill innocent women and children so it gets on the TV screens, so that we say it's not worth it, you know, let's just back off. The death they cause is -- makes it -- you know, maybe we just ought to let them have their way.
And that's the great danger facing the world in which we live. And he gets it. And he can answer his own -- your question. What was the second half? I talked too long for -- (laughter).Q How would your approach differ from that of your predecessor? And while we're on the subject, also --
PRESIDENT BUSH: Wait a minute. You -- (laughter). Wait, you don't -- (laughter.) It doesn't work that way. Hey.
Q (Off mike) -- birthday.
PRESIDENT BUSH: (Laughs.) Yeah. "Mr Birthday Boy" is taking latitude here.
Q Do you have the same philosophy as the president in terms of terrorism?
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: Absolutely.
PRESIDENT BUSH: What do you expect the answer to be --
PRIME MINISTER BROWN: Absolutely.
PRESIDENT BUSH: -- Rutenberg? (Laughter.) Come on, man.
-SNIP-
Q Thank you. A question from Sky News. Mr Brown's new formulation for what we used to call a special relationship is Britain's single most important bilateral relationship. I wonder if I could ask him what precisely that means, whether it works the other way for the United States in terms of their bilateral relationships, and also, Mr President, what you think has actually changed with the arrival of Gordon Brown instead of Tony Blair.
PRESIDENT BUSH:
(Chuckles.) Besides toothpaste.PRIME MINISTER BROWN: Tooth- -- (chuckles) --
PRESIDENT BUSH: You want to -- I'll start. Look, (let me say ?) I think any time you share values the way we share values, it -- it makes it easy to have strategic conversations. It makes it easy to be able to have common ground on which to deal with these problems. He just listed off a lot of problems. I -- I happen to view them as great opportunities to begin to put conditions in place so that the world looks fundamentally difference (sic) 50 -- 50 years from now.
But I would say that the relationship between Great Britain and -- and America is our most important bilateral relationship, for a lot of reasons: trade.
Great Britain has been attacked. We've been attacked. It caused us to lash up our intelligence services like never before.
We have common interests throughout the world.
But it's important relationship primarily because we think the same. We believe in freedom and justice as fundamentals of life; that there's no -- there's no doubt in my mind that freedom is universal; that -- that freedom is a gift to each man, woman and child on the face of the Earth; and that with freedom comes peace.
And there's no doubt in my mind those of us who live under free societies have an obligation to work together to promote it. And the man I listened to shares that same sense of morality and that same sense of obligation not to free others, but to create the conditions so others can realize the blessings of freedom.
I mean, we -- we can't impose freedom, but we can eliminate roadblocks to freedom, and to allow free societies to develop. And it's really hard work, and there's a lot of cynics saying "how dare they" -- "How dare they impose US or Great British values?" And what I found was a man who understands that these aren't Great British and US values; these are universal values. And so -- what was your question? (Laughter.)Q (Off mike.)
PRESIDENT BUSH: Oh, it's changed?
Q Yeah.
PRESIDENT BUSH: He's a Scotsman, you know, kind of a -- (laughter) -- not the dour Scotsman that you described him or the awkward Scotsman; he's actually the humorous Scotsman, a guy that -- we actually were able to relax and to share some thoughts. You know, I was very interested in -- in his family life. He's a man who suffered unspeakable tragedy, and instead of that weakening his soul, strengthened his soul. I'm -- I -- I was impressed, and I'm confident that we'll be able to keep our relationship strong, healthy, vibrant, and that there will be constant communications as we deal with these problems.
As I said, he's a problem solver, and that's -- that's -- that's what we need as partners.
I mean, we've got a lot of problems we're dealing with, and we can reach solutions. He's a glass-half-full man, not a glass-half-empty guy, you know. Some of these world leaders say, "Oh, the problems are so significant, let us -- let us retreat, let us not take them on, they're too tough."
That's not Gordon Brown. His attitude is, "I see a problem, let's work together to solve it." And for that I'm grateful.PRIME MINISTER BROWN: What President Bush has said is both very compassionate and reflects the conversation we had about a whole series of issues that we can deal with together.
-SNIP-
PRESIDENT BUSH: Glad you all are here. You better cover up your bald head. It's getting hot out. (Laughter.)
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